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342. Battling on Two Fronts: Introducing Maryan Omar Ali
- Author:
- Ahmed I. Samatar
- Publication Date:
- 06-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
- Institution:
- Macalester College
- Abstract:
- It is a bit muggy but still a gorgeous and clear morning in Toronto, Canada, in early August 2008. A brief and comfortable train ride from the center of the city, one of North America's most cosmopolitan urban concentrations, delivers me to the stop where Ms. Maryan Omar Ali, Aryette, was waiting for me to visit with her. After a few minutes of looking for each other among a throng of people in the arrival area—I have not seen Maryan for more than 17 years—we greeted warmly and then left the station together for the very short bus ride to the large building where her residence is located. Maryan, despite the passage of so many years and some testing health-related experiences, looked buoyant, tranquil, and eager to show me around and then engage in a thorough conversation about her background, passion for Somali literary aesthetics and production, and developments in her life in recent years. We arrived at her compact and neat apartment. Her mother, Sahra Omer Goud, whose strong and kind voice I have heard over the telephone on numerous times, was at the door with a genuine welcoming smile. Once I entered, I could smell the appetizing aroma of the legendary Zeila cooking—perhaps the most sophisticated culinary tradition in all of the Somali-inhabited territories in the Horn of Africa. As is customary, we took off our shoes and walked into the living room. Before we sat, I requested to go to the bathroom to put on a comfortable macawis that I had brought with me for the occasion. We washed our hands and began to devour a tasty lunch of spiced and grilled wild-caught salmon, delicious rice cooked with cloves, cumin, and cardamom and flavored with a dash of raisins, followed by lots of fresh salad and fruits. Soon, Maryan and I were sitting opposite each other with the tiny but powerful recording machine between us. We were surrounded by numerous artistic artifacts, almost all Somali, and stacks of carefully labeled disks—a testimony to her well-established reputation, among those in-the-know, as a premier cartographer and archivist of types of Somali literary production. We agreed to divide the interview into three main parts: her background; her collection and knowledge of popular songs; and her courageous fight against an onslaught of breast cancer—an illness heretofore not publicly discussed by Somalis with the misfortune of contracting it.
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Canada, Somalia, and Toronto
343. Rethinking the Responsibility to Protect
- Author:
- Alan J. Kuperman
- Publication Date:
- 03-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
- Institution:
- School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
- Abstract:
- One of the most recent innovations of institutional liberalism in international politics is the so-called Responsibility to Protect. Defined in 2001 by an international commission established by Canada, this emerging norm challenges the Westphalian tradition by arguing that sovereignty is neither absolute nor an entitlement of statehood, but rather a privilege that states may earn only by protecting their people. Moreover, if a state refuses to protect its people, or intentionally harms some of them, the international community has not merely the right, but the responsibility, to violate that state's traditional sovereignty to protect the at-risk population—if necessary, through military intervention.
- Political Geography:
- Canada and Westphalia
344. Secession: Final Frontier for International Law or Site of Realpolitik Revival?
- Author:
- Clifton van der Linden
- Publication Date:
- 07-2009
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Journal of International Law and International Relations
- Institution:
- Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto
- Abstract:
- In its opinion regarding the legality of the secession of Quebec, the Supreme Court of Canada observed that 'the process of [state] recognition, once considered to be an exercise of pure sovereign discretion, has come to be associated with legal norms.' Mindful of the principle of effectivity, the Court was cautious not to overstate the bounds of legal authority in matters of secession. Nevertheless, the acknowledgement of international law as a constitutive element of state behaviour in matters relating to secession marks a significant departure from conventional realpolitik accounts, wherein 'successful revolution begets its own legality.'
- Political Geography:
- Canada
345. Emerging Market Business Cycles Revisited: Learning about the Trend
- Author:
- Emine Boz, Christian Daude, and Ceyhun Bora Durdu
- Publication Date:
- 04-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
- Abstract:
- The data reveal that emerging markets do not differ from developed countries with regards to the variance of permanent TFP shocks relative to transitory. They do differ, however, in the degree of uncertainty agents face when formulating expectations. Based on these observations, we build an equilibrium business cycle model in which the agents cannot perfectly distinguish between the permanent and transitory components of TFP shocks. When formulating expectations, they assign some probability to TFP shocks being permanent even when they are purely transitory. This is sufficient for the model to produce "permanent-like" effects in response to transitory shocks. The imperfect information model calibrated to Mexico predicts a higher variability of consumption relative to output and a strongly negative correlation between the trade balance and output, without the predominance of trend shocks. The same model assuming perfect information and calibrated to Canada accounts for developed country business cycle regularities. The estimated relative variance of trend shocks in these two models is similar.
- Topic:
- Economics, Emerging Markets, and Markets
- Political Geography:
- Canada and Mexico
346. Canada and the European Union: Prospects for a Free Trade Agreement
- Author:
- Selen Sarisoy Guerin and Chris Napoli
- Publication Date:
- 07-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies
- Abstract:
- This paper argues that there are significant potential economic gains to be obtained from an EU-Canada Free Trade Agreement. The evolution of trade between the US and Canada following the signing of CUSFTA in 1989 offers a good illustration of how trade might increase after an EU-Canada FTA, as the patterns and levels of protection between the EU and Canada today are very similar to the protection that existed between the US and Canada in 1989. Although many empirical studies fail to find support for 'trade diversion' created by NAFTA (or CUSFTA) at the expense of the EU and to the benefit of the US, there is some evidence of trade diversion when detailed regional trade is examined. If indeed trade diversion has occurred due to NAFTA, then an EU-Canada FTA is welfare-enhancing for Canada. For the EU, a potential FTA can level the playing field with the US and increase the competitiveness of European firms in the Canadian market.
- Topic:
- International Trade and Finance and Markets
- Political Geography:
- United States, Europe, and Canada
347. The Promise of Economic Rights and the Welfare State
- Author:
- Zehra F. Kabasakal Arat
- Publication Date:
- 01-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Human Rights and Human Welfare - Review Essays
- Institution:
- Josef Korbel Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver
- Abstract:
- The International Bill of Rights, which includes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, 1966), and the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, 1966), embodies a wide range of human rights. The universalism, interdependency, and indivisibility of these rights have been reaffirmed at the World Conferences on Human Rights, organized by the United Nations (U.N.) and held in Teheran (1968) and Vienna (199 3), and in various U.N. resolutions. Yet, there has been resistance to accepting the full scope of human rights articulated in international documents, and civil and political rights have been privileged. Economic, social and labor rights tend to take a back seat in international discourse in many countries, including Western democratic states that often present themselves as the flagship of human rights.
- Topic:
- United Nations
- Political Geography:
- United States and Canada
348. Canada-U.S. Relations and the Impermeable Border Post 9/11: The Co-Management of North America
- Author:
- Daniel Drache
- Publication Date:
- 04-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
- Abstract:
- Until September 11, 2001, Canadians had not thought very much or very hard about the long border they share with the United States. Nor had public authorities shown significant concern. There was no compelling imperative to contemplate it, particularly in this global age. Ideas passed through it, money poured over it and millions of people crossed it each year. Post–September 11, the border has changed beyond recognition. It is everywhere and everything. Issues now include enhanced security, protection of privacy rights, who Canadians want as citizens, how cross-border traffic can be expedited, and how open the border should be to political refugees.
- Topic:
- Human Rights and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- United States, Canada, and North America
349. Review of The Price of Fear: The Truth Behind the Financial War on Terror by Ibrahim Warde
- Author:
- Rebecca Hekman
- Publication Date:
- 09-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- al Nakhlah
- Institution:
- The Fletcher School, Tufts University
- Abstract:
- On November 7, 2001, amid much fanfare, the U.S. led a global shutdown of Al-Barakaat, a large Somali remittance company headquartered in Dubai. The first major target in the financial war on terror, the company stood accused of providing $15-25 million annually to Al-Qaeda. U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill called Al-Barakaat “the quartermasters of terror” Bush announced that the strike was predicated on “solid and credible” evidence that the company was “operating 'at the service of mass murderers.” Simultaneous police raids in four U.S. states, Canada, Italy, Switzerland, and the UAE were hailed as a resounding success. Having ostensibly interrupted Al-Qaeda's communications and made a significant dent in the organization's finances, the strike was also to uncover a wealth of information for law enforcement
- Political Geography:
- United States, Canada, Italy, and Switzerland
350. Space Weaponization and Canada-U.S. Relations: Lessons from Australia
- Author:
- Steve Buchta
- Publication Date:
- 05-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Woodrow Wilson School Journal of Public and International Affairs
- Institution:
- Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
- Abstract:
- Since the end of World War II, Canadian security policy has maintained a highly adaptive quality. New circumstances and emerging threats have continually challenged the evolutionary capacity of the Canadian military. The repeated success of Canada's defense can be attributed to a sound capacity to anticipate security needs, generate appropriate approaches to combat and foster strategic partnerships with close allies. Now more than ever Canada must modernize its security policy. Major players in global politics have largely finished reshaping the post-Cold War geo-strategic environment. Most notably, the United States has taken an assertive role in the fight against terrorism. In this stasis of new global order, Canada has aligned itself with NATO members to combat the Taliban in Afghanistan and has been committed to implementing the Canada-U.S. 2001 Smart Border Declaration. Clearly, Canada has demonstrated a sovereign interest in building closer security relations with the United States.
- Topic:
- Security, NATO, Climate Change, Terrorism, and War
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, United States, Canada, Taliban, and Australia